to scan
1
9.1
- verb
- /skæn/
- Literature
- In poetry class, we learned how to scan each line for its rhythm and meter.
- scan a poem
- scan in iambic meter
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Watch on YouTubeI, I, I need, I need at least two more words to rhythmically make this work in his accent because it just doesn't scan.
- I, I, I need, I need at least two more words to rhythmically make this work in his accent because it just doesn't scan.
Examples
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To understand the poem's flow, the teacher asked us to scan the verses carefully.
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The first line of the poem is almost entirely regular and could be scanned as strict iambics using Frost's below-the-line notation.
Academic text (2016) -
What sort of line that would be which would not scan at all, I cannot say.
Fiction book (2000) -
Earlier I described lines like these as difficult to scan, but this is not quite accurate.
Academic text (2016) -
All I see Turns to brown As the sun Burns the ground And my eyes Fill with sand As I scan This wasted land
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I solved the problem for myself by learning to scan in clumps.
Academic text (2003) -
Edith opened to a poem at random and scanned a few lines.
Fiction book (2002) -
And as we scan the third line, the first word becomes almost insultingly simple to deduce, "don't."
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In "Mowing," the line has 12 syllables prior to elision and could therefore begin to scan in strict iambics from left to right, as seen in scansion 3.
Academic text (2016) -
When analyzing the poem, I took time to scan each line for its intended rhythm.
Compounds
- Specialized
40
3.2
A medical test that makes detailed pictures of the inside of the body using X-rays
- Specialized
30
3.2
A medical test using X-rays and a computer to make detailed images of the inside of the body
- Specialized
1
3.5
A way to identify a person by using a machine that reads the patterns on their fingertip
- Archaic
1
7.7
A screen divided into top and bottom halves that update at the same time to work faster
- Specialized
A scan that uses sound waves to make a picture of the back of the eye
- Specialized
An ultrasound test that measures the length of the eyeball before eye surgery
How Thorough
Surface Forms
Etymology
Scan (sense 5): To scan a line of poetry comes from the word scansion, from Latin scandere 'to climb', because you 'climb' the beats of a line to count its rhythm, and a line that 'scans' fits the poem's meter.